Camping

Took the kids camping for the first time this past week. Time really does move slower at a campsite; we were there barely 24 hours but it seemed like a week's worth of stuff happened. Best to do the blog fairly stream of consciousness I think.

- On our drive to the campground, we stopped one of those upstate New York delis that appear every mile or so for sandwiches. First deli sandwiches for the kids. They ate them!

- Beautiful drive, perfect day. We arrived at the campground and as we were checking in the attendant mentioned the high winds. That would be an omen because literally just as we were parking the car in the lot near our campsite, we felt a drop of rain. I said to Emily, uh, that wasn't actually a drop of rain, was it? I was just starting to set up the tent when we heard thunder. To play it safe, we put everything back in the car. Good thing, because the skies opened up and it was a torrential downpour for almost the next hour. Some discussion about going to a hotel. Another hour of rain, or less, and we would have.

Sitting in the car in the parking lot, starting at the tree-filled woods, buckets of rain coming down, Emily and I shook our heads in disbelief and kind of laughed. I thought of Calvin and Hobbes, Calvin in a canoe with his father while sheets of rain came down. Dad: "It isn't very buggy, is it?" Calvin: "You're really reaching, Dad." We decided to play "I Spy," with Kate going first. Kate: "I spy with my little eye something....green." We all laughed, since we're looking at the forest. Jack gamely tried to answer. "Ooh! Those leaves?" Laughter. "THOSE leaves? What about THAT leaf? These leaves?...."

More rain. Emily: Jack, are you reading? Jack: "How else should we pass the time until we can camp?"

The rain mercifully stopped and we set up the tent. Walked around a little bit, decided which campsite we'd get next time (one directly on the water, where we'd later see fish swimming about).

As the sun was sinking in the sky, Jack said, "Can we go see the water? The sun looks really cool over it." We did. 

Kate walked around the campsite singing and having conversations with herself. She and Jack were totally comfortable playing around the site as we set it up. I thought about Scott and me playing with Fisher-Price adventure people while Dad and Mom set up the campsite, way way back when.

Started fire, started camp stove, made hotdogs and beans. Jack: "This is the best hotdog ever. Outdoor food is best." Kate also ate well.

Made smores. I made the first one, roasting marshmallow on stick. Kate ate the marshmallow, strangely uninterested in the chocolate and the graham crackers. Jack wanted to try roasting a marshmallow, and did. He also set his on fire. A brief look of stunned disappointment. I showed him how it was really tasty anyway. He ended up enjoying his smores. I am sure we also set marshmallows on fire as kids, I assured him.

We told ghost stories, me telling a revised one of Bill Murray's from "Meatballs," Jack telling one about "a ghost scaring Kate and she said I'm not scared....and then the ghost ate a smores." For Jack's story, he held a flashlight under his chin for a scary glowing effect.

Emily read Ladybug girl stories to both kids in the tent, and then we left. Most nights (including our practice camping night) they're awake for a while, saying they're cold, or warm, or thirsty, or can't sleep). This night, we didn't hear a peep -- both were asleep almost before we'd zipped the tent closed.

During the night I woke up at one point and heard Jack or Emily whispering. I felt for Jack, who was sleeping next to me, and couldn't find them. Apparently we were sleeping on enough of an angle that Kate was somewhere down around Emily's knees and Jack was basically on top of her, all three of them in the opposite corner of the tent from me.

Heard an owl around 4:30 a.m. Thought of Twin Peaks.

Morning, I woke and saw Jack sleeping, his stuffed monkey sitting against him, seemingly protecting him, smiling happily. (He always smiles, he's stuffed.)

Jack crawled into my sleeping bag at some point and we snuggled. His fuzzy crewcut kind of itched me.

In the morning Emily and Jack walked down to the water again. Jack came running back, excited. He'd seen a fish. He named it "Dorsal."

Breakfast was coffee, eggs, toast, bacon. Kate ate all of her eggs, which never happens at home.

We went for a brief hike, Kate singing happily in the same way she does sometimes when riding her bike. About nothing in particular to no one in particular.

Emily took Kate to a little playground near the beach, while I took Jack fishing. We had borrowed rods and tackle gear. I showed him how to cast and I was stunned to see him pick it up immediately; I expected the first hook to catch either me or him in the head. Nope. I fished too, at one point seeing a fish actually put the lure in its mouth, then let it go. I was either too stunned to jerk on it or didn't want to deal with trying to remove the hook without hurting him. But, it was pretty cool.

We fished for almost an hour without catching a thing and not only was Jack NOT bored or disappointed, he wanted to fish more. Pretty amazing.

We went to the beach and rented a rowboat. After some incompetent circling, I got the hang of it and we went over near our campsite. Then Emily rowed. Then JACK rowed, and did a credible job; he was so thrilled. He had his back to me but Emily said he had that proud look he gets when he does something new; the "I DID it" look. He rowed for a while and wanted to keep on doing it. A natural fisherman, natural boater, natural camper? Mebbe. Or I'm just a proud father, whichever.

Kate also wanted to row and we let her try. The end of the paddle caught her in the lip and she cried. Sorry, Kate. But she rallied anyway and sat on my lap while I rowed, her hands on my wrists. Happy again.

The boating was the best, because it was just the family, out on the water on a beautiful day, like there was nothing else in the world. It felt like we could do it forever.

We played on the beach, Kate and Jack completely unfazed by muddy pond/lake water, just like us as kids. They rolled around in the sand, jumped in the water, rolled around some more.

Time to leave, drive home, eat dinner at a diner, and stumble into our own beds exhausted. I put Jack to bed and as I said goodnight I said, Jack, I had a great weekend, I'll remember it always.

Jack: "Me too. I'll remember it at least until I'm 70."